Invergordon Shore Excursion: Inverness, Cawdor Castle & Whisky
Recommended by 91% of travelers
Badge of Excellence
Invergordon, Scotland
- 8 hours (approx.)
- Pickup offered
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
What's Included
- Driver/guide
- Live commentary on board
- Port pickup and drop-off
- Attraction Tickets
- Gratuities
- Food & Drinks
Meeting and Pickup
Pickup point
- Invergordon Cruise PortOilfield Support Base, Shore Rd, Invergordon IV18 0EX, UK
Operating hours.9:00 am
Itinerary
1
Cawdor Castle
1 hour 15 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included
2
Dores Beach
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
3
Inverness
1 hour 15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
4
The Singleton Distillery
1 hour • Admission Ticket Not Included
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Infant seats available
- Service animals allowed
- Near public transportation
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Most travelers can participate
- Children must be accompanied by an adult.
- Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately.
- Minimum age is 4 years old.
- At the time of booking, cruise ship passengers must provide the following information: ship name, docking time, disembarkation time and re-boarding time.
- Collapsible wheelchairs with removable wheels can be accommodated providing the passenger is accompanied by someone who can assist them board and disembark.
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 53 travelers
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.6
based on 22 reviews
Tyson_G, Jun 2026
Great guide (Fiona). I am glad we ended up at Tomatin instead of Glen Ord. I really enjoyed the tour and tasting. Cawdor Castle and the grounds were brilliant. We has a taste of Loch Ness, and a surprise bonus to the Clavacairns, which was brilliant. She packed so much in. There were places I would have lingered longer, but there are only so many hours in port. Thank you, Fiona! P.S. I appreciated that she was wearing the more casual, daily kilt (as opposed to the formal kilts we always see).
Aaron_L, Jun 2026
Overall, a very good tour. Well-run timing wise and with mostly sufficient time at each site. It would have been nice to have a little longer at the distillery after the tour to taste and shop. Our tour guide Jack was amazing and was the highlight of the tour. The main issue I noticed is that there seemed to be a lot of confusion with purchasing the entrance tickets to the attraction separately. We purchased all of ours as requested by the tour company, but a lot of other people on our tour seem to have missed that instruction and were confused by it.
Dale_D, Jun 2026
Fiona was amazing!!!! The Whisky wasn’t our cup of tea but she found us directions to a nice walk while others toured the factory. She made sure we were well taken care of and the tour stops didn’t feel rushed. Even took us by the Cairns which were fascinating
Response from Host, Jun 2026
Hi there,
We appreciate you taking the time to review us, it is always lovely to get positive feedback.
We are thrilled that you enjoyed your time on tour with Fiona, they definitely like to give their tours a personal touch and we are glad you agree! We will be sure to pass along your kind words.
Thanks again and we hope to see you again soon!
Kind regards,
Eleanor
Carol_R, May 2026
A nice balance of history, city and country. Lovely bus ride with great views, the all electric bus was comfortable and quiet. Fiona and Jeff were excellent as guide and driver. Really appreciated how the excursion was laid out and everything on time. Cawdir Castle was crowded, but moved fast, gardens were beautiful, Diane beach to look for Nessie was just right and the distillery was a nice ending. A great day!
Dileep_B, May 2026
Excellent tour with Marita. Good stops at Cawdor Castle, Inverness, Loch Ness and whisky tasting at Glen Ord.
Susan_L, May 2026
Viator is a great tour company to book with .. very good at communicating steps for the tour. The tour itself was not that interesting nor the guide.
Joanne_C, May 2026
Cawder Castle is a very interesting structure. Loch Ness is beautiful in spite of Nessie being a no show.
David_S, May 2026
Admission to some sites are not included. For example tickets were not included for either the castle or whisky tasting. Our guide Jack S was fantastic
Patricia_Y, Apr 2026
It was a great tour. Castle was beautiful as well as the grounds. Wish we had more time in Inverness. Victoria square was a great place for lunch on our limited time. The whiskey tour was very informative
LAWRENCE_S, Apr 2026
This excursion was well organized and went to three excellent areas if the Scottish Highlands. It picked up right near the cruise terminal. The cost was a fraction of what you would pay for a cruise company's excursion that is not as good. Your choice!
Response from Host, Apr 2026
Hi there,
Thank you very much for taking the time to offer us such lovely feedback on your tour to Isle of Skye, Highlands and Loch Ness
We’re pleased to hear that you enjoyed your time exploring Scotland with us.
Kind regards,
Hannah
Lesley_A, Sep 2025
Tour guide they hired was great. He handled all the problems in stride. The Timberbush tour company however, needs some work with scheduling and organization. The 5 of us were picked up on time, got on the bus and then told we were going whiskey tasting at 930 in the morning. We said, um well Timberbush told us to prebuy 240pm Glen Ord tickets months ago and the online itinerary still says we are tasting in the afternoon. Guide called in and was told by Timberbush again, they can't change it. So we showed up at Glen Ord at 930 only to find out they open at 10 and that they just entered the SLOW season and won't be having normal whiskey tours. What? Why?
The whiskey tour they gave us was fine, the guy who gave us the tour said it was his first day on the job.
The rest of the day went off without a hitch. Our guide was knowledgable and kind. We showed up at Cawdor Castle in the afternoon, when we were supposed to be whiskey tasting.
The transportation to and from the cruise port was good, a nice clean bus.
Anyways, that's my review.
Response from Host, Dec 2025
Dear Lesley,
Thanks for the feedback!
We're glad to hear that you enojoyed your tour, despite there being issues with timings.
We hope we can welcome you on another tour soon!
Kind regards,
Fatima
Sandra_V, Sep 2025
We went to the castle, cairns (cool), and whisky distillery as advertised, with a rushed stop for lunch and very brief stop at Loch Ness. What is not advertised is that the castle stop is so brief - combined with the queue to get in - that people had to essentially run through the castle to make it back to the bus. Luckily we had just opted for the garden tour.
As mentioned, the lunch stop was brief - 35 minutes in a crowded food court. Barely made it with no time to spare for bathroom. Whisky tour was a complete bust. Only the two of us had bought our tour tickets in advance (20 pounds each), and there were no other spots left for others to join. So we are supposedly getting our money back. We then made a 10 minute stop at Loch Ness (no Nessy sighting unfortunately). That was pretty cool as well, though. To substitute for the aborted whisky tour, I assume, we stopped at a farm and saw a couple of the Highland hairy cows.
The strangest aspect of the tour was the guide - he really didn’t seem like a guide. That is, he didn’t share much back story or local history along the way like others guides do. He just seemed to comment on whatever caught his eye as we drove along - for example, birds, farm animals, advertisement signs, etc. His wife was the driver and often she would nudge him to comment about something in particular.
All in all, the worst Viator tour we’ve been on. The timing of this tour really needs to be carefully reconsidered. I don’t see how we would’ve made it back to the ship in time if the whisky tour had not been skipped. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to come back to this interesting area and catch a more well-planned and informative tour.
Response from Host, Dec 2025
Dear Sandra,
Thanks for taking the time to leave feedback, and we are sorry to hear that your Shore Excursion did not go as expected.
There is a lot to see in the highlands, so we are not able to stop everywhere and we need to make some stops shorter than others. We try to make as many extra stops as possible when time permits, but we also have to take into account safety when it comes to the small roads of the highlands and make sure we stop in areas that are not dangerous to do so.
We really appreciate you informing us of your issues with the driver/guide as it is very important to us that all our passengers feel comfortable and at ease on our tours.
We are more than welcome to take further action to this issue, and we will investigate this situation further. If you could please get in touch with us on tours@timberbushtours.com so we can look into this for you.
We hope that despite these issues, you were still able to enjoy your time in the Scottish Highlands, and hopefully we can welcome you on tour soon.
Kind regards,
Fatima
Eileen_C, Jul 2025
Stewart was our driver. He was funny and he gave us plenty of time at every site. He gave us a good overview of the Highlands.
Response from Host, Oct 2025
Thank you so much for your fond words!
We're thrilled to hear that Stewart made your tour experience exceptional with his passion for guiding and entertaining.
Your recommendation means a lot to us!
If you ever decide to explore more of Scotland, we'd be honoured to have you back on another adventure.
Best wishes,
Amy
Karen_R, Jul 2025
Great tour. Malcome did an amazing job. Definitely recommend Tailored the trip to meet everyone's needs.
Response from Host, Oct 2025
Hello Karen,
We appreciate you taking the time to review us.
We are so happy to hear you had a great time on your Inverness, Cawdor Castle & Whisky tour with Malcolm! He certainly knows how to make a tour fun! We hope you learned plenty of new and interesting facts.
We hope to see you again sometime soon so we can help you experience more of the magic of Scotland.
Best regards,
Paulina.
Ronald_S, Jul 2025
Willie with Timberbush was great. Wonderful story teller, interesting facts and great driver. Beautiful sites and back to port with time to spare.
Response from Host, Oct 2025
Hi There,
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave us a review.
We are thrilled you enjoyed yoru tour with Willie, and that h is knowledge, great driving and fun stories coupled with the beautiful scenery made the experience so memorable!
We would love to welcome you on tour with us again in the future.
Best Wishes,
Hannah
Mary_R, Jun 2025
Fiona was a very good guide. She was informative and accommodating. The castle was beautiful with gorgeous grounds. I would also recommend the whisky distillery. Although I do not like whisky I still found the process interesting and worth the expense.
Response from Host, Jul 2025
Hi there,
Thank you for your kind review! We’re glad to hear Fiona was informative and accommodating throughout your tour. It’s wonderful that you enjoyed the beautiful castle and its grounds, and found the whisky distillery visit interesting—even if whisky isn’t your favorite!
We appreciate your recommendation and hope to welcome you on another tour soon.
Best regards,
Mirren
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